Review: The White Lotus, “In the Sandbox” | Season 2, Episode 4
The show goes full sex comedy, and a few characters finally find what they need
As much as I’ve enjoyed the first three episodes of this season—and as happy as I’ve been to luxuriate in the tensions of these relationships without a ton of “action”—“In the Sandbox” struck me as the first one to really go for the madcap sex comedy I hoped it would. It doesn’t blow everything up, but it’s fun, and it gives a couple stories the shot in the arm they need as we pass the midpoint of the season.
It does that principally through the introduction of two new-ish characters: Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his nephew Jack (Leo Woodall). We briefly met Quentin when he gazed at Tanya at dinner last week, and Jack during his night swim in the chilly pool, but here they totally shift the directions Tanya and Portia were heading. Despite how different they are, Tanya and Portia have been in somewhat similar emotional places recently; they’re self-conscious and, for different reasons, struggling to enjoy the beauty of the place they’re visiting. But Quentin and Jack remind th…